


Visitation

by AlexiHollis



Series: Moving [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Big Sis Jasper, Big Sis/Mom Garnet, Fluff, Gen, Kid Amethyst, Kid Peridot, Past Child Abuse, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-13 22:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11194608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiHollis/pseuds/AlexiHollis
Summary: Peridot's mother demands a visit with her daughter and things go about as well as Garnet thought they would





	Visitation

“I think you might need to explain it, again, Pearl,” Jasper sighed, looking across the table where her friend sat as stony faced as ever.

“Uh…” Pearl looked between Jasper and Garnet. She hadn’t necessarily enjoyed explaining the first time. “Garnet? Do you understand?”

Garnet shook her head. “No, I do not understand how a parent who abuses their child gets ‘visitation rights.’ What the hell, Pearl?”

“Hey! I just got Amethyst to quit saying that one, shh,” Jasper hissed under her breath, looking around for the little monster she called a sister. Garnet just glared at her. “Look, the same thing happened with Amethyst’s sleaze bag of a dad. There isn’t enough evidence to completely stall her parental rights, they aren’t even going to put her on termination trial, yet.” At Garnet’s blank stare, “Termination trial is when they completely terminate the parental rights-”

“I know what a termination trial is,” Garnet cut her off. “But isn’t her dad going through one?”

“Yes, which is why he doesn’t have visitation rights,” Pearl said. “We don’t have enough information on the mom. The dad claims every punishment and emotional abuse is incredibly hard to prosecute, so right now Peridot’s being kept from her on neglect charges and she still has some parental rights.”

“What if Peridot doesn’t want to see her?” Garnet asked. “Or what if it’s traumatizing? Or-”

“I’ll be there the whole time, Peridot will be fine,” Pearl promised. “Unless she’s said something incriminating about her parents?”

“Nothing, not since the first few days.”

“I’m sorry, but neither Peridot nor you really have a say in this, not until we either find evidence strictly against her mother or Peridot wants to talk about what her mother did. It’s what her mother wants and she has the right for now.”

“When’s the first visit?” Garnet sighed.

Pearl winced, “Two days?”

“Two days?!”

“I did not know that,” Jasper immediately said, scooting her chair a little bit away from Pearl to avoid Garnet’s anger. The two ignored her.

“Pearl, she’s only been out of the hospital five days!”

“I know, I know. I had to fight to get it pushed that far away, the mom’s been incredibly persistent. Especially once she found out Peridot had surgery.”

Garnet groaned under her breath, dragging a hand over her eyes. Of course this was happening, when it came to Peridot, nothing could be easy. “Her parents are incredibly anti-doctors.”

“Yes, that has definitely come up in her father’s hearing,” Pearl barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ll watch out for her mother saying anything about it.”

Garnet eyes drifted back to Jasper, “Why are you here?”

“Well, for one, Amethyst loves hanging out with new people and I love getting her out of the house so she stops destroying it,” Pearl giggled at the remark and even Garnet smiled a bit. Amethyst’s destructive tendencies were legendary among those who knew her and Jasper. It was why Garnet’s house was already so kid-proof before Peridot arrived. “Also, Pearl needed back up, she wasn’t sure how you’d react to the whole ‘parent visitation’ thing.”

“Jasper!” Pearl’s face turned bright red.

“Wha-It’s true!”

“Might I remind you, you reacted _horribly_.”

“The bast…idi…ugh, he was trying to take Amethyst!” Jasper scoffed. “Would’ve too if he didn’t realize last minute you can’t foster your own kid, therefore, no money.”

“I see _someone else_ also needs a bit of help with word choice,” Pearl teased.

“I’m twenty-five, not ten!”

“Don’t parents get money if they can’t afford the kid?” Garnet asked.

“Yes, but not as much as foster parents,” Pearl explained. “Also, it’s a lot of paperwork and inspections and he wouldn’t have passed. He’s in jail for the production of meth at the moment.”

“And possession of illegal firearms,” Jasper reminded, leaning back in her chair.

“What did your mother see in him?”

“What did my mother see in any of the men she had kids with?” Jasper sighed, allowing the chair legs to fall back into place before standing up. “Alright, I better go get the monster fed and in bed soon.” She walked towards the staircase where she heard the unmistakable sound of her sister laughing followed by smaller, more hesitant giggles. “Amethyst, you better not be destroying Garnet’s house!”

“’m not!” There was the crash and a small ow, followed by Peridot calling back, “I’m okay!”

Jasper rolled her eyes, “No hurting her kid either! C’mon, we gotta go, you both have school in the morning.”

“’m comin’!” Amethyst called before she appeared at the top of the stairs. Before Jasper could tell her not to, she jumped off the top and into Jasper’s arms.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t do that,” Jasper grunted, arranging the new weight in her arms.

Amethyst didn’t respond, her arms going around Jasper’s neck as she laid down her head. “’m sleepy.” Jasper rolled her eyes, for such an energetic kid she could fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

The stairs began clicking as Peridot slowly but surely made her way down the stairs. A little over a week since the initial surgery and less than since she was discharged from the hospital, she was definitely getting the hang of her crutches. The doctors were reluctant to put her into a prosthetic until she turned at last thirteen and most likely hit her last growth spurt.

“Hey, Peridot,” Jasper tried her best to smile kindly at the tiny child.

“Hello.” Peridot passed Jasper and went straight to Garnet, leaning her crutches on the table and crawling into Garnet’s lap.

“Well, hello there,” Garnet said, amusement coloring her tone.

“See you later, Garnet,” Jasper waved as she opened the door with one hand. “Later, Pearl, Peridot.”

“Bye, Peri!” Amethyst called, waving over her sister’s shoulder as the door shut.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Garnet asked.

“I like Amethyst, she’s funny.” A moment passed, “C-could she come over again sometime?”

Pearl’s eyebrows shot up at the exchange.

“If Amethyst’s sister is okay with it, sure.” Garnet looked down at Peridot who seemed more tired than normal. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” Peridot yawned before looking up at Garnet with big eyes. “Amethyst has _a lot_ of energy.”

Pearl tried to contain her laughter, hiding behind a hand.

“I know,” Garnet smiled.

“No, you don’t understand,” Peridot readjusted herself to look Garnet straight in the eyes. “She has like, _a lot_.”

“…yes.”

“ _A lot, a lot_.”

“Peridot, is there a point to this?”

“In order to keep up with her, I must double-no, _triple_ , my sugar intake!”

“I knew this was going somewhere.”

* * *

 

Garnet didn’t know when to tell Peridot. Or how to tell her. She’d thought she’d tell her once Pearl left, but then she’d created a million and one reasons not to. They had to still eat dinner, they had to wash dishes, they were watching the news, Peridot was double checking her homework, Peridot needed to take a bath and so on until eventually it was too late to tell her that evening. The next morning, when Garnet woke Peridot up for breakfast, it was _too early_ to tell her. Why potentially ruin a day of school?

Now, she was stuck in a car ride back from school, having not yet explained to Peridot she would be having an impromptu three day weekend, because her visitation was in the middle of the day tomorrow. Garnet was so stuck in her own head, she didn’t even notice Peridot’s quiet demeanor.

“Garnet?” Peridot piped up from the backseat.

“Yes?”

“Do…do you think my parents miss me?”

Garnet slammed on the brakes to stop from running into the car ahead of her, the stop light seemingly coming out of nowhere in her shock. Peridot yelped as the seat belt dug into her skin.

“Sorry, Peridot.” The light turned green and Garnet carefully began driving again. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I know I’m not going back, but…I guess, I thought, they’d want to talk to me by now,” Peridot mumbled. “I like you, a lot, but I…I do miss them.” Garnet could feel her heart begin to crack and her grip on the steering wheel tighten as she turned onto their street. “Is that wrong?”

With a sigh, Garnet pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Going to the backseat, she opened the door to be at eye level with Peridot. The girl sat with her head down, looking at her hands twisted in her lap.

“I don’t think it’s wrong to miss your parents,” Garnet said. “And I do think they miss you. In fact, I’ve been meaning to tell you, but you’re going with Pearl to visit your mother tomorrow.”

Peridot lit up, turning to Garnet, smiling, “Really?!” Garnet nodded and suddenly, she had an armful of Peridot.

“Wait, did you ride the whole way without your seat belt on?!” Garnet exclaimed, pulling away.

“No! I’m nine,” Peridot said, affronted. “I know when to have my seatbelt on!”

* * *

 

It was ten o’clock when Pearl picked Peridot up for the visitation with her mother. A half hour drive to and back from the location since it had to be held on completely neutral ground and an hour visit, Garnet wasn’t expecting them back until at least twelve, so she planned to begin making lunch around eleven thirty. Yet, only ten minutes before she was going to start cooking, the door slammed open and closed again. Looking up from her work on the kitchen counter, she saw Peridot making her way quickly to the stairs.

“Peridot!” Pearl opened the door again, yelling after the girl.

“I never want to see her again, ever!” Peridot screamed as she made her way up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door.

“What happened?” Garnet demanded as she stood up from the table.

Pearl shook her head and shrugged, “Honestly, I have no idea.”

“What?”

“I left the room for two seconds!” Pearl exclaimed, obviously frazzled. “I had to take a call, my boss called me four times, I thought it was urgent, but she was just asking me where I put a file! Then, I went back in the room and _that woman_ ,” Garnet suspected she meant Peridot’s mother, “just looks at me and says that she’s done, something about having tried so hard since Peridot was born, but now it’s obvious that it’s hopeless. I don’t even know, _I’m done_. If she hadn’t just filed for termination-”

“She filed for termination?” Garnet could barely believe what she was hearing. The woman badgered the hell out of Pearl for a visitation, got Peridot’s hopes up, and then filed for parental rights termination?!

“Yes, she went straight to the court house after the visit according to Zircon,” Pearl shook her head. “I can’t _believe this_. I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

“Pearl, I think I better go on upstairs.” Garnet gestured to the staircase.

“Oh!” Pearl exclaimed. “Yes, of course! I’ll just be going.”

Once the door shut, Garnet began heading upstairs, making sure to hit all the creaky steps on her way.

Before she could open the door, though, “Garnet?”

Garnet stared at the door in silent, calm shock.

“Garnet? A-are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Y-you can come in, i-if you want to.”

She opened the door to see Peridot laying down on her bed, looking up at the plastic stars Garnet helped her put up.

“You were wrong,” Peridot sighed. It wasn’t accusatory, more like a statement of undeniable fact. “She doesn’t miss me at all.”

Garnet sat down on the edge of the bed, “What happened?”

“She was fine, until Pearl left. I showed her a drawing I made during art class at school and she said she really liked it,” Peridot looked at Garnet with a sad smile. “She said she’d put it on the fridge. I’ve always wanted her to do that…but she said my drawings weren’t good enough for it. But when Pearl left, she told me to tell Pearl that you did something _really, really_ bad to me, that way I could go home and see my drawing on the fridge.” Peridot sniffed, drawing attention to her watery eyes that made Garnet’s heart hurt. “She told me to lie about my dad and say that he’d never punished me like he said he did, something about a false confession.” The original plan to claim he had no idea it was abuse was failing, Garnet knew that much from Pearl, but to manipulate a child because of your own mistakes, a child you hurt, was a low Garnet could barely comprehend. “I said that I wouldn’t lie for her, or for dad…I may have also called her a clod, sorry.” Peridot attempted a smile, knowing Garnet disapproved of any sort of name calling.

“I’ll let it slide, but only once,” Garnet said. She laid down next to Peridot, looking up at the stars. There was a ribbit of protest and, upon lifting her head, she pulled out the stuffed frog her moms had sent Peridot when they found out about the surgery. Peridot quickly took it back, hugging it to her chest. “I’m sorry the visitation didn’t go well.”

Peridot shrugged, despite still being obviously upset by the situation, and began petting Froggit absentmindedly (Garnet decided not to ask how the toy got its name). “I understand why I got taken away, but…they’re still my parents, y’know, I miss them. I wanted this to go well. I wanted there to be another one.”

“What do you miss most about them?” Garnet asked.

Peridot hummed thoughtfully. “I miss my mom’s cooking. She used to make the best soup ever. Oh, and I miss my dad yelling in traffic. He used to do it a lot when I was younger to make me laugh.” She chuckled a little at the memories, “but…there’s a lot more that I don’t miss.”

“Like what?” Garnet wasn’t expecting Peridot to answer and afterwards, she almost wished she hadn’t.

“I don’t miss my mom’s stupid garden,” Peridot rolled her eyes. Garnet went to chide her for the word, but Peridot continued talking. “I was only allowed in it when I was serving a punishment. Sometimes, it was weeding, but usually she was too worried I’d actually pull a plant. Usually, I just had to dig a hole in the side garden where she didn’t plant anything. Once, I had to dig one two feet deep and two feet wide. Dad would only fill the holes in again once a month and if there wasn’t a place to put a new hole…” Peridot got really quiet again.

The silence lasted for a while, the two staring at the plastic stars as if they were actually other galaxies far, far away.

“Do you want to go get some ice cream?”

“Yes, please.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you guys enjoyed this! Please leave a KUDOS or a Comment!! Thanks so much for reading =]


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